Background
Alison Knowles was born on April 29, 1933 in New York, United States.
1057 Post Rd, Scarsdale, NY 10583, United States
Scarsdale High School
14 Old Chapel Rd, Middlebury, VT 05753, United States
Middlebury College
200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205, United States
Pratt Institute
Alison Knowles was born on April 29, 1933 in New York, United States.
Initially, Alison attended Scarsdale High School. Some time later, she enrolled at Middlebury College, where she remained until 1954. Knowles decided to continue her studies at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, graduating with Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors in 1956.
In the 1960's, Alison collaborated with such artists, as John Cage and Marcel Duchamp. In 1963, as a founding member of Fluxus, Knowles produced what may be the earliest book object — a can of texts and beans, called the Bean Rolls. Four years later, she collaborated with James Tenney on the creation of The House of Dust, known as the first computer-generated poem. Also, during the early 1960's, the artist was working on her silk screen paintings.
In 1967, she expanded the scale of her book projects with the Big Book, an eight foot tall book, organized around a spine. This book was shown at the Frankfurter Buchmesse and continued touring through Europe. In 1982, after the first Big Book was destroyed, Knowles produced the second large-scale book, called The Book of Bean.
During the late 1960's, Alison started to produce soundworks. In 1969, she designed and co-edited John Cage’s Notations, a book of music manuscripts, published by the Something Else Press. Knowles also created the bean turner (a handcrafted flax paper pouch, filled with beans) and wrist rubbers (flax paper "gloves", embedded with beans). At that time, she also worked with Marcel Duchamp on the recreation of his first optical piece, called Coeurs Volants.
During the 1980's, she worked in Italy, Germany and Japan, creating her unique pieces. In 1990, Alison taught at the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg.
During her lifetime, she exhibited her works at numerous institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern. Currently, Alison Knowles continues to create works, that incorporate performance, radio and sound, papermaking and printmaking.
In 1960, Alison Knowles married Dick Higgins, a British composer, poet and printmaker, who died in 1998. Their marriage produced two children — Jessica and Hannah Higgins, a writer, art historian and educator.